Cactus Comics Presents:

I thought after I finished my grad work I would jump right back into work on this comic and start pounding out pages. I didn’t count on feeling totally burnt out. I’ve done plenty of comic pages since, but for whatever reason, haven’t been able to bring myself back to working on something that has a deadline. I actually have the next page in this story ready to be colored and lettered, but feel like if I’m diving back into that I need to really make sure to hit my deadlines. I’m not quite ready for that. I’m enjoying time where I can work as I please, don’t have to worry about the stress of getting something done by a certain time and just be. I’m still working on the print version of the completed work, making sure it’s all colored the same. I also completed a comic over the summer called “Saucy Jesus” that should be ready to print shortly. I’ll have an 8 page story appearing in the second 11 O’Clock Comics Anthology, set to debut C2E2 this spring. Right now, with “Saucy Jesus” complete, I’ve started work on a “Nuclear Family” comic, with plans to do a one shot about some of the other Misadventures characters down the road. I will get back to Misadventures of a Comic Fan soon, and I apologize for the delay, I’m just enjoying a break for now. In the meantime, I’ll begin posting thoughts and updates here to get back into the routine.
See you soon.
Dave

So, if you’ve been wondering why updates have been so excessively sparse of late. Okay, I won’t sugar coat it, updates have been pretty non existent. I’ve been working on a story for the 11 O’Clock Comics anthology. Most of you reading this are probably aware of the project, but if you aren’t it’s a comic anthology for charity, the specifics can be found on Kickstarter.com. Although the Kickstarter campaign is fully funded, there is a little less than a week left if you’d like to contribute to this worthwhile cause. I did a 6 page story for anthology, and was working with a variety of media. The size of the original pages often 18×24 inches and some panels were done in ink washes. Some pages had to be done in chucks because the surface I was working on changed.

Page 1 is a perfect example of this because I wanted to do the establishing view of the space station in scratchboard. Two panels are done in pencil, one in ink wash and one in pen and marker.

Page two was done almost entirely in ink washes.

It’s all finished and submitted now, so I should be able to get back to Misadventures of a Comic Fan!
Thanks for your patience and understanding.

I don’t have an update for you this week, and may not have one next week. It’s been awhile since I had a skip week and things are catching up to me in other areas of my life. So I’m going to take a brief break to get some stuff done, but will be back soon.

Wow! It’s been awhile. I’ve been busy with family stuff, grad classes, and working on inking samples. I’ve learned a lot by inking over other people’s pencils. One of the biggest things I’ve learned is that I have a lot to learn. I’ve always approached comic art as pen and ink drawing, sometimes more in the minimalist tradition and sometimes more involved. This is not the preferred method in comics, evidently. Anyway, I’ve just started getting back to the continuing Misadventures of a Comic Fan. I won’t be posting any of the next chapter until I get a good chunk finished. Right now I have ten pages penciled and four pages in various stages of ink. The story will follow the pursuit of the Doctor and the introduction of new worlds and characters. A team will be put together to fix all the damage that will be created by the Doctor’s passage from one dimension to the next. In the meantime, I’ll try to get the current story line finished and restarted in the next week.

No update this week. I know, it makes me sad, too. The reason for this is simple. I’ve started prepping for print and am also preparing a submission to the Xeric foundation. The due date for that is at the end of this month which leaves me with a lot of scrambling as I try to get everything ready for that. The good news is we’re nearing the end of the first book. I’m not planning to wrap the story up into a neat little bow, though. It’s ending on a cliffhanger. After this is over I’ll take some time to work on a few other things – they’ll get posted here, too. The name of the site is Cactus Comics after all, not Misadventures of a Comic Fan. I’d like to do a few other shorter stories before jumping back into the next section of Misadventures of a Comic Fan. One of the stories I have planned is the Doctor’s origin story. By default this will also tell the origin of the unnamed bald guy. My tentative plan is to get back to telling the Misadventures story over the summer. I will post the remaining pages of this story in the next week or so, depending on how quickly I can get the printing stuff out of the way.
That’s all for today.
Dave